Hermione, blonde
by Princess Beeduru
Summary: Hermione gets the once in a lifetime chance of ...wait for it, becoming Draco Malfoy's friend! She's positively ecstatic about it. Note the sarcasm. Its set in France. Post HBP. Summary not as good as fic.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer**; **I do not own harry potter or any of the characters. I tried to get Draco, but I lost the case.(sigh) Oh well.**

**Onto a brighter note, I hope you like this fic.**

**Called 'Hermione blonde' for lack of a better title.**

**Without further ado, I Princess Beeduru present to you the first chapter of Hermione, blonde. **

'Hermione, Hermione.' He nudged with added urgency.

'What is it Ronald?' Annoyance plainly etched into every word.

She had a right to be angry. A very big right indeed! Her friends had turned against her, and were telling her to do the impossible.

It all started with the Order meeting last week. The Order was trying to round up remaining death eaters who could be a possible threat to wizarding society today.

Voldemort had been defeated last year. It seemed that the world wasn't ready for him to take over it at that point in time and so he failed miserably in his effort to do so. Harry of course was the one who incanted a well placed 'AVADA KEDAVRA', while Hermione and Ron helped strategize and helped the Order infiltrate Voldemort's lair. This proved very helpful as they managed to find the weaknesses of the Death Eaters residing there as well as the Dark Lord's.

So far the Order, whose ranks had swollen dramatically had rounded up the very lethal death eaters and were now looking for those who had any inclination to the dark side.

On that list was the name, Draco Malfoy. The last thing known about him was that he was currently in his native homeland, France. He had disappeared off the face of the Earth after his failure of assassinating Albus Dumbledore and it was only due to a very fortunate tip that they heard that Malfoy was in fact ... well and alive. He had been spotted near the south of France.

This is where the Golden trio stepped in. It had fallen upon their shoulders to get him into their clutches. Two of them were going to be in the background while one person would actually have to make an acquaintance with him…as in become his …_friend_!

What an idea! Hermione scoffed. It was completely preposterous! The idea of Draco Malfoy and them being friends was as possible as Snape on a high and hugging Harry Potter.

It was at Harry's apartment where Hermione's life took a drastic turn. They were going to draw straws and whoever was chosen would be the one who would have to (gulp) court Malfoy.

Obviously the fates were having a party with lots of alcohol when they assigned Hermione to this task.

There had been a lot of head banging, death threats and crying not to mention screaming.

Till this day Harry's and Rons' ears hadn't resumed functioning properly

Now, here she was in the hot summer sun, in Marseille scoping out Draco Malfoy.

Ron was nudging her and finally, she snapped.

'Ron, what the hell is wrong with you? Stop acting like a bloody child and _tell_ me what you want instead of manhandling my body!'

At this outburst, all the occupants of the small town looked at her.

Feeling abashed, she mumbled a feeble, 'sorry'. Trust Ron to anger me and then _I'm_ the one who gets humiliated. How exactly does that work out?

But that question wasn't about to be answered because at this moment she saw why Ron was trying to get her attention.

There, in the shop across the street, a platinum blonde head could clearly be seen. Harry called them over to the side.

' Obviously you've seen what I've seen Ron. Now, Hermione are you ready?'

What a stupid question! ' If I say no, could we do this another day?'

Two glares were her answer. 'I'll take that as a no then.'

'Okay Hermione, now remember we need a disguise for you. We'll turn your hair…Ron, what colour should we make it?' he asked while changing direction.

'Well, it can't remain brown, and I don't think Hermione'll suit red.'

'Yeah, already have too many red heads in my life.' Harry said with a chuckle. ' Hey, how about black?' while pointing at his own hair.

'No I don't think so mate. It'll look too freaky. I mean she'll look like... weird. No offence, I mean it suits you and all but on her... I'm not so sure.'

'How about blonde?'

'Yeah, now that's good! Blonde. After all she needs to attract Malfoy's attention and hey, what better way to do that. I mean they could possibly bond over the similarity of their hair colours or something.' He said with an encouraging nod towards Hermione.

She tried very hard not to roll her eyes, but alas, she failed!

' Oh come on Mione, you'll look good as a blonde.' Ron flinched as she shot him a killer icy look.

'I'm only doing this because this is a good cause and I am part of this cause. I am going to turn Malferret in and then get on with my life as if nothing ever happened. Got that!'

With that morale booster she got up and pointed her wand at herself. Immediately her brown hair started fading as it turned lighter and lighter, until it was as blonde as can be.

'Okay, see Mione. Now that wasn't that bad. All we have to do now is change your appearance and find you a name, an alias, a pseudonym, a…..'

'Okay Ron, we get the picture.'

'Right, sorry hehe, got a little carried away there.'

'Nah, you don't say.'

'Hermione stop it. Lets think of a name and get this done and over with.' Came the wise voice of Harry.

'I know. How about Flora?'

'Flora?' Hermione asked incredulously. 'No way am I going to be named after a fairy dealing with flowers.'

'Oh come on Mione, no one will know its you. Besides it will help your image, your act, your pretense, your…ahem. Sorry about that. So you are now officially christened, Flora…Durmwood. Yes that's it, Flora Durmwood.'

'Oh goody.' She hissed.

'Now for the image.' Said Ron.

'What? I'm perfectly fine as it is thank you very much. I'm blonde already, I don't need to change anymore than I already have.'

'Come on Mione, I'm not trying to be rude, but Malfoy hardly looks at girls like you. He likes them skimpy and all made up, you know…' the quelling look that was shot at him would have made a lesser man cower in fear, but Harry wasn't a lesser man and was determined to carry on.

'Remember Hermione, its just an act, a façade. _You_ know you're not like that and _we_ know you're not like that, but that git in there,' while pointing over his shoulder, 'does _not_ know that. The quicker you get him to start liking you the quicker we can get back to our lives.'

'Don't you dare Harry Potter. Not The puppy dog look, no I will not fall for it… I repeat I will not… ALRIGHT! Stop, I'll do it okay! I'll look like a stupid whore and get him to like me, just don't look at me like that!'

'Gets her everytime' Harry sniggered to himself. Ron was looking over at him with a look of awe saying, you-have-to-tell-me-how-to-do-that-man.

Mumbling incoherently, Hermione started altering her clothes. Every centimeter she shortened her skirt she glared at the two boys. She grudgingly made her top shorter as well, showing off her flat stomach.

The final touch was putting on make up. She secretly thanked Ginny for telling her about these tips. She applied sparkly lipgloss and a neutral eye shadow that would bring out her eye colour (or so Ginny had said)

When she was finished she turned around to show her boys the result. Ron became very red and his ears started burning up. Harry wasn't faring much different either. His mouth had been open for the past three minutes already.

When four minutes had passed, it was the final straw. Hermione stopped tapping her foot impatiently and whacked the boys with her handbag.

What was more infuriating was the fact that they didn't even look remotely abashed for openly ogling their best friend of ten years.

The _nerve_ of them! She huffed.

While she was muttering to herself about the idiocy of the opposite sex, she missed the interaction going on between Harry and Ron.

**(A.N- NOOOO. Not that sort of interaction)**

She was unaware of Harry and Ron dragging her to the local grocery shop. She was unaware of them pushing the door open, and most importantly, she was unaware that she had just bumped headfirst into none other than Draco Malfoy!

Outside the shop, Harry and Ron were laughing their heads off. The look on Mione's face was enough to send _even_ Voldemort into hysterics.

After gaining his breath he gasped out before relapsing into laughter, 'Wow, Hermione, blonde. Who would have thought?'

A.N- Who would have thought indeed.

And that folks is the first chapter! Tell me how you liked it by pressing the little button in the corner. I'll only update, if I get reviews alright. So my beautiful people, start reviewing. Till next time, see ya!


	2. Lunatic

**A.N- Wow! I'm literally speechless. I had no idea that people would actually like this! When I got the reviews, I was like OMG, no way! I'm very grateful. Thank you so much! Thanks to Sarah, Ryuichis-Ragdoll, and Queen of Serpents, my very first reviewers. I love you guys.**

**Well, as promised, here is the next chapter of 'Hermione, blonde'**

**I hope it's to your liking!**

**Princess Beeduru**

**P.S- Another note is that when people are thinking, it's going to be in bold, okay?**

**Normal speech is in normal writing. Flashbacks are in italic.**

* * *

**Last time: **She was unaware of Harry and Ron dragging her to the local grocery shop. She was unaware of them pushing the door open, and most importantly, she was unaware that she had just bumped headfirst into none other than Draco Malfoy!

Outside the shop, Harry and Ron were laughing their heads off. The look on Mione's face was enough to send _even_ Voldemort into hysterics.

After gaining his breath he gasped out before relapsing into laughter, 'Wow, Hermione, blonde. Who would have thought?'

* * *

**Lunatic**

Hermione suddenly found herself infront of the target. 'AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!' she screamed so loudly that all the people in the vicinity, whipped round to look at her. Malfoy was just standing there stock still and then …came the anger.

'What the hell is wrong with you!' he shouted while rubbing his very sore ears.

"**Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" **the mantra was repeating itself in her head. It was all her friends fault. Looking outside she saw her so called friends laughing their asses off. She was so pissed off at them and wanted desperately to give them a piece of her mind.

Suddenly her heart felt as if it had frozen, she realized that her boys were in plain view of everyone in the shop. If _she_ could see them, then so could Malfoy.

This was bad!

Coming to the scene before her, she saw that everyone was staring sat her as if she was some mental loon escapee from St. Mungos.

'Umm…I'm an arachnaphobe.' She explained lamely, trying to focus the attention on herself to give the two imbeciles time to conceal themselves.

'So you think that answers everything do you. Do I look like I have eight legs? '

Making sure that they were out of sight, she brought her attention to what Malfoy had just said. 'No…I jus'

'Oh, okay, does it look like I have eight eyes?' he said scathingly.

'Listen there's a….

'I suppose I look like a…' interrupting despite Hermione's explanation.

'LISTEN!' She finally lost her temper. That was happening quite a lot nowadays.

'You had a flippin spider on your flippin shoulder! I freaked out okay? It happens. I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you..

'Startled is an understatement.' He grumbled.

Acting as if she didn't hear him, 'I'm sorry. If you were three and your brother turned your favourite teddy bear into a great spider, you'd _hardly_ be fond of them yourself.'

She knew Ron was listening in on the conversation and inwardly laughed at his expense, poor boy. Traumatic experience really, but at least it wasn't her experience, but hey no one knows that. She thought sneakily.

The shop owners gave her a sympathetic nod and a pat on the shoulder. All the other occupants of the shop turned away to continue their purchases, mumbling about crazy girls and stupid brothers.

All the attention towards her had ebbed away, except that of the man infront of her.

'Right, well I'm sure the spider has cleared off by now, so could you please move. I'm a busy man,'

God, Malfoy was an arrogant pig! Who did he think he was by talking to her like that!

She was about to retort, when she remembered the mission. **Focus Hermione, focus!**

Her silent ramble with herself gave Draco time to admire the view before him.

"**Dayum, she's hot!"** was the only thought running through his head.** "Blonde eh, she looks good. But I don't have time to waste. I need to get ready for the meeting and she's probably just a ditz anyway",** this was accompanied by a sigh of regret.

Hermione just realized that he was staring at her, and couldn't help feeling slightly flattered, but only slightly. The rest of her felt absolutely disgusted for having _him_ look at her. Ooohh… the nerve of him, why I should… hang on! Everything's going according to plan. He's _supposed_ to do this otherwise all that I did to myself would be for nothing.

Feeling better, she decided to swallow her pride, just a bit mind you, so that she can get this whole thing over and done with.

'Umm, I just want to say, I really am sorry. Let me make it up to you. Would you like a coffee or something?'

Draco was pondering over the offer. HOT blonde or stupid meeting. HOT blonde or stupid meeting. He looked over to her and saw her nibbling her lip, damn it! That just made her look even more attractive. No Draco focus! Focus!

'Sure. That would be fine' he heard the words come out of his own mouth.

Hermione looked over at him in shock. She didn't know it would be that easy, but who cares, the easier it is the better it is for her!

She smiled and accepted his proffered arm and walked out the door.

Draco meanwhile was mentally kicking himself. How did that just slip! Now I cant go to the meeting! He looked over and saw the girl smiling. Nah… its okay. The guys can do it without me this one time. I might just get lucky.

He remembered his manners just in time, 'I didn't introduce my self did I? My name is Draco Malfoy.'

'Hi, Draco. I'm Her…ur…Flora. Flora Durmwood'

"Whoopsies! Have to remember my name from now on. Wow, he really does not recognize me. That's amazing and even more surprising, I'm holding onto Draco flipping Malfoy's arm, who would have thought? hehe "

"Flora, HA! Ditzy name to go with ditzy girl."

'I haven't seen you around here Flora. Did you just move?'

'Mmm…what. No, I just came for the holidays. I've wanted to come here since I was a kid. What about you? How long have you lived here. You don't have a French accent.'

'You're quite observative.'

'No, just have an obsession with accents. People can hardly pronounce my name if they're from abroad.' She said with a laugh remembering Viktor's nonexistent girlfriend, "hermy-own-ninny"

'Flora isn't that hard to say.'

'Wha…oh yes, I know. But I guess people are weird that way. Well, since I'm new around here, do you think you could point out a good café.'

'Yeah, there's a nice one around the corner.'

'Good.'

They fell silent as they walked. Hermione noticed how Malfoy averted her question. He didn't tell her where he was before coming here, and instead put her in the spotlight.

They entered the café and she saw how reserved Malfoy was. He didn't smile, wave or greet anyone in the street. He made _her_ tell the cashier what he wanted, since _she_ was the one who wanted to make it up to him. He definitely was trying to keep a low profile.

"**What are you hiding Malfoy?"** she couldn't help thinking.

He found a seat for them in the back, where there were very few people. He pulled out a chair for her, before seating himself. **"At least he's a gentleman, unlike those two"** thinking of her best friends, who always treated her as one of the guys.

' So, Flora what do you do? Flora, Flora…'

She was just staring off into space.

"**Damn it, I agreed to spend what could have been a very productive hour with a person who doesn't even know her own name!"**

Just when he thought she was about to respond, he was dismayed to find that she had only whipped her mirror out of her bag.

He decided to nudge her out of fantasy world. He didn't want to waste an already wasted lunch.

'FLORA!'

"What the hell is he looking at? He's just staring at me. Do I have something on my face?"

She quickly got out her mirror and started examining her face. When she saw that nothing was marring her features she looked over at him in time to hear him scream Flora while he pushed her and she toppled out of her seat.

"**What the hell? Flora? He wants _butter_?'** another thought just recognized itself. **"Hey, he just bloody tackled me!"**

All of a sudden the place beneath her ear started buzzing. Scared that there was a bug on her, she started slapping her neck…a few seconds later she remembered what that meant.

FLASHBACK

'_Okay Hermione, were putting a transmitter just beneath you're ear. We can communicate that way. My dad actually made something useful after all the tinkering with the muggle contraptions._

_We can say stuff and you can hear it and vice versa.' Said a very excited Ron. 'its going to be so much fun!' _

'_Excuse me if I'm not dancing for joy, Ron. Its not particularly nice to know that whatever I say will be recorded and heard by you.'_

'_But Hermione, its for your benefit. We'll know what's going on, and so we can help you if the need arises.' Harry said reproachfully._

'_Oh, goody! You guys are waiting for the moment Malfoy pounces on me and when he's already finished his business with me, you'll come traipsing in to save my already dead ass. I'm **delighted** to know of this.'_

'_Well moving on, when we want to talk to you, the area beneath your ear will tickle,' seeing Hermione's alarmed face, he added on hurriedly, 'but only slightly. You'll hardly feel it._'

_Hermione was just a tad bit ticklish, well a tad bit maybe an understatement._

Regaining her senses, she heard, Harry's voice in her ear. 'Mione, what the hell is wrong with you. He's been calling you for the last ten bloody minutes or so! Hurry up, respond man, he's gonna get suspicious. HERMIONE, SPEAK WOMAN!'

With that lovely wake up call she looked at Malfoy's face. His expression was somewhat between that of highly annoyed to one of amusement, and she realized why. There she was sprawled on the floor, in a very unladylike manner.

The thoughts running in Draco's head, apart from thinking she was a complete idiot, was **"Man, she's got great legs."** His gaze was traveling up her hind limbs, when Hermione quickly snapped them shut**. "Aww! The view was pretty good."**

She was glaring at him, angry at him for disrespecting her by looking at her like that. But she couldn't vent her frustration now, she had to deal with the situation quickly.

She got herself up and apologized for her inattentiveness and said that she had a lot of things on her mind.

"**What mind?"** he thought. **"I'm gonna give this bitch one more chance and if she screws it up, I'm out of here."**

'So Draco, what were you saying?'

'Nothing, I was just asking what you do for a living.'

'Oh, well...I'm a journalist. What about you?'

'Really, a journalist. Wow that must be fun. What pieces have you written?'

'I write mainly about, uh, fashion. Don't try to avoid the question.' With a hint of a smile, 'Tell me what you do.'

'I'm a researcher.'

'Wow, that's interesting. What exactly do you research?'

'Well, I specialize in the dark arts.'

"**Kerchiing! Wooooo! Home run. He's getting onto something. Wow that was soooo easy. YAY!"** Hermione thought, composing herself and she calmly asked, 'What _about_ the dark arts?'

'I research dark spells and find out the cure to them.'

Hermione was doing a victory dance in her head, that was until Malfoy finished the sentence.

'What… cure?'

'You seem surprised.'

'No, its just that… well I didn't think you'd be that type of person.'

'You expected me to actually delve into the Dark Arts and find more fatal curses and hexes... or something along those lines.'

Looking abashed she said, 'No offense Draco, but I have heard of your family. I thought that you'd be made of the same mould.'

'Common misconception.' Inwardly laughing, at her nod of understanding. **"God, she's drinking this all in. she _actually_ believes me. Silly girl."**

'You mean you don't support the Dark Arts?' Heremione was lost. **"All this time he was…but no. There must be an explanation. He doesn't know who I am, does he. Shit, maybe he does. Maybe he's acting. Be on your guard Hermione."**

'You seem really shocked, Flora. Where abouts do you live in England anyway. How come you've heard of my family?'

'You don't need to live in any specific area to know about the Malfoys. Apart from being one of the oldest wizarding families, the Malfoys have left their impressive mark in society.'

'I see my surname precedes me.'

'It does indeed. Anyway, tell me what you've done so far in the research.'

'If I tell you I'm going to have to kill you.'

"So that's how you want it Malfoy, eh? Time to put the blonde in me back into action"

Smiling coyly she said, ' Oh come on Draco, what would it hurt? Besides you wouldn't hurt me, would you?' she added the pouty lips for more affect.

He looked at her calculatingly. **"A pretty girl is shamelessly flirting with me… on the other hand she is a journalist, way up there on the list of those people never to trust. I'll just indulge her, tell her something of no consequence."** He decided.

Smiling at his deviousness he said, ' Well, you have to promise never to tell anyone.'

'You know you can trust me, but anyway I swear never to reveal anything.'

'Good, well I've been trying to……'

Ten …interesting minutes passed while Malfoy was explaining a recent escapade of his, during one of his fake expeditions. He just reached a part of utmost gore and pain.

'…so there I was lying in my own blood, and Dunderwill was towering over me, wand at the ready. I was trying to get my strength back, just enough to move and get to the antidote which he was protecting. Then SUDDENLY…,'

Hermione's elbow slid of the table and her face hit the table with a thunk. . She was bored out of her mind, sure in the beginning it was interesting but it was a bit monotonous now.

'HAHAHAHAHAA!'

All the occupants of the little café looked around for the source of the raucous peal of laughter. Their eyes landed on a blonde girl, who was trying to stifle her laughs.

"**Damn it! Harry and Ron couldn't have chosen a more worse timing than _this_ to contact me."** While rubbing her neck and ears.

_What the hell was that for?_

_Oh sorry, Hermione. My hand just slipped, I pressed the button by accident. _

_You absolute MORON! I already look like an idiot, and now you just made me laugh for no reason apart from your stupid carelessness and make me look even more idiotic! Don't do that again!_

_Sorry Hermione!_

"**The stupid thing increased the intensity of the buzzing and now people are staring at me again. Oh god, Malfoy's going to think I'm such a dork. Wait, what was he talking about, something about protection…"**

'What's so funny about me about me risking my neck for the wizarding race.' Malfoy was looking highly affronted.

"**I just thought of such a good story, beyond ingenious, I'm about to die in it and _all_ she does is…laugh? What the hell is wrong with her?"**

'I'm so sorry, I don't know what came over me,' cursing Ron and Harry in the process,

'It's just that… uh… I'm so happy that you're still alive.'

'What…'

'Well, you see, I have this thing that when I'm happy I start…laughing?' wincing at her own unimaginative mind.

'So let me get this straight. You laugh hysterically when you're happy. Is that right?'

'Pretty much so. Yeah.'

'Oh okay.' Malfoy was nodding his head. 'Well, I better go, I'm busy and have things to do, so maybe I'll see you around…' Draco was getting up and looked as if he wanted to run far away from the girl who he was sitting with.

"**She's absolutely bonkers! Why the hell did I spend my precious time with a mental bimbo? I should have seen this sooner. Later weirdo."**

'What… no wait! You cant go now!' panic setting in her voice. 'You're the only person I know here in France. You can't leave me, who's going to show me around.' She whined.

"**Damn it! He's going. I have to stop him!" was racing through Hermione's head.**

"God, she's clingy too! Good thing I'm ditching her."

'Yeah, I would. But I'm really busy. I'm wanted elsewhere, so my sincerest apologies. I might see you later, perhaps.'

'Draco, wait…wait! Stop…, I have to tell you something! I'm not who you think I am!' Hermione yelled desperately, wanting anything to just keep him with her.

Draco stopped in his tracks, he wheeled around. 'What?'

* * *

**A.N- OOOOOHHH! Cliffhanger, don't you just love those? I'm sorry, but hopefully I'll make it upto you guys.**

**I hope you liked it. Tell me if you did, or are not happy with something.**

**But remember, I'll only update if I get the reviews. So, my lovely readers please review!**

**Thankyou!**


	3. First Impressions

**A.N- Well here's the third instalment to Hermione, blonde. First of all I'd like to thank Queen of Serpents and Ryuichis-Ragdoll for being the only reviewers for the last chappie. **

**I must say I was disappointed with the amount of reviews and wasn't going to update this at all, but being the nice person that I am I decided that I should, especially for the sake of the two people I mentioned above.**

**Well anyway here's the next chappie. Enjoy, my dears.**

**Hermione, blonde**

**Chapter 3: First Impressions**

**By Princess Beeduru**

* * *

**Last time**: 'Yeah, I would. But I'm really busy. I'm wanted elsewhere, so my sincerest apologies. I might see you later, perhaps.'

'Draco, wait…wait! Stop…, I have to tell you something! I'm not who you think I am!' Hermione yelled desperately, wanting anything to just keep him with her.

Draco stopped in his tracks, he wheeled around. 'What?'

* * *

**First Impressions **

Hermione tried to compose herself. She was beyond happy that she got him to stop, but now she didn't know what to tell him!

Suddenly an idea formed itself in her mind and before she got her tongue together, it all came blurting out.

'What was that?' questioned Malfoy.

'I said that I need help.'

'_That_… is obvious.' He said rather callously.

'What I mean to say is that the only person who can help me is…you.'

'And pray tell why that might be. I don't own a degree in solving the problems of mentally deluded.'

'I'm not disturbed!'

And suddenly the image of Hermione changed in front of Malfoys eyes.

She no longer looked pathetic and emotionally unstable. She was standing up straight and her eyes were narrowed. Malfoy was _shocked_ to say the least when he saw the silent transformation. There was a weird sense of control or…power radiating from her.

'I am looking for someone that I know, and incidentally you know him too. This whole thing…' she said while waving her hand over the table that they were supposed to be sitting at, 'was just a _façade_. I wanted to check you out for myself so that I could see if you are worthy of assisting me, or at least capable of giving me some information. Now I am sure that you can handle yourself in bad situations after listening to your experience with…ah…Dunderwill.' She added with a hint of a smirk.

A pink tinge appeared on Malfoy's cheeks. Did she just mock him! This girl had more balls then he thought she had.

'Well do you want to help me?' asked Flora.

'I'll think about it. For now, I'm late for a meeting with some old acquaintances of mine. I have to go.' He said this while briskly walking out of the café.

'Oh, that's good. I can find out some information from them.'

Malfoy stopped abruptly and saw Flora walk on. Quickly catching up, he said furiously, 'And who exactly told you that you can come?'

'I did.' Flora's voice held a tone of finality in it.

Malofy was once again momentarily stunned by the balls this girl had. Damn, he had clearly underestimated her.

His emotionless mask made a re-entrance and thought in his malicious mind how Flora would fare with his friends**. "She wont make it out alive." **Inwardly chuckling he started to look forward to the meeting.

Hermione looked over at the man beside her. "**I can't believe it! He agreed to let me come. What the hell is wrong with him. The war must have definitely addled his brains." **

Trying to assure herself, she tried ignoring the unsettling feeling that was beginning to over power her.

She let Malfoy walk slightly ahead of her, and extracted her wand from her skirt. She whispered a tracking spell and watched gleefully as she saw the faint blue whisps cover him and then fade into nothingness.

Malfoy was none the wiser about what had just occurred which suited Hermione just fine and she continued following him to the 'meeting place'.

He kept swerving left and right and downright ignored the questioning glance from Hermione.

"If he thinks that he'll confuse me so that I wont be able to remember the location, he's got another thing coming. I hope the guys are getting this."

With every turn that they took, Hermione kept whispering the directions. (a.ka left, now right. Second right and so forth.) so that Harry and Ron would be able to follow her and remember the place they were coming to.

Finally, after twenty minutes of walking Hermione's sore feet's prayer was answered. They had stopped at some dilapidated house, which was looking quite welcoming to Hermione, but alas, it seemed that Malfoy had no intention of going in.

'Draco, what exactly are we waiting for?'

'Please. Be quiet!' he snapped. It wasn't so much as a plea than a blatant order.

Hermione jumped at the sudden raise in his voice. Back at the café he had acted surprisingly nice, no insults or anything; but that can be explained by her change of appearance. There was nothing to insult her about, no blood comments, no bushy hair remarks and no scathing retorts.

But now the Draco Malfoy which she knew had resurfaced. True: he didn't know who she really was, but she guessed that being an ass just came naturally to him. She was actually sort of relieved that he was back to his annoying prat like self.

After a minute of fuming, Hermione thanked the lord that Malfoy stopped the statue act and began to walk around the house.

'Finally! I was wondering when we were going to reach there, I was thinking along the lines of next week.' She huffed.

Malfoy whipped around and moved closer to her, so close that their noses were almost touching.

'I never asked you to accompany me, and seeing how you are in unfamiliar territory it would be in your best interest to remain silent.' He hissed.

Gulping, Hermione nodded. **"God, he can be positively frightening sometimes"**

She followed him go around the house and they ended up in the back. Hermione try all she might couldn't stifle the gasp that escaped her lips. She found herself infront of a graveyard, but that was not the reason for her shock.

It was because of the air that surrounded them; _full_ of dark magic. It was so apparent that even a _muggle_ could come in and say that this place was very queer.

The atmosphere was gloomy and oppressive, needless to say Hermione felt rather out of place but… she needed to stick with the mission.

She saw some steps magically appear at the gate by some well-versed words on Malfoy's part. He went down them without even a backward glance.

"**The nerve of that man!" **she grumbled.

She glanced around thinking of what would be the best thing to do, hesitating about what to do. She decided to throw all caution to the wind when the light breeze picked up tremendously and started howling. Sighing, she descended down the stairs.

She made her way down into a crypt…for lack of a better word. A flash of white blonde hair made into her vision and she quickly tried to follow it.

The adrenaline was pumping through her blood, making her forget about her body's previous tiredness. She saw Malfoy stop abruptly and getting her act together slowly inched towards him.

He turned around, ' Well, Flora we have reached the meeting place. I must say I had my doubts about you out there, and they were about to come true had you not come down here. Now listen carefully, I still don't have any idea why I'm doing this, but be warned that I'm only showing this much thoughtfulness this one time. If you do not fare well with the group then you will never be allowed to return and will be rid of the memory of ever coming here as well as meeting me.'

"**Oh dear, that's not good. Damn! How exactly am I going to get all these horrible, horrible people to like me, when the only feelings I hold for them is _disgust_." **

'This was your welcome on my behalf, now, _move_!' he pushed her aside and made his way in to the room. As the door opened she heard a group of voices cheer and greet him. The door quickly resumed its original position leaving her in the silent eerie chamber.

As she was about to walk in she felt a faint tickling sensation beneath her ear.

'_Oh thank goodness, you two. What am I supposed to do?'_

'_Don't worry Hermione, everything will be okay. Just go in and try your best.' Came the soothing voice of Ron._

'_Go in, try to go round all the room, so we know who exactly he's meeting with; and try to get round all the conversations. **If** for example you "don't fare well" as Malfoy said and they **do** alter your memory it will be okay because we already have all the information anyway and know where we need to go. But that's the **really** bad scenario, I'm sure you're going to do good.'_

' _I get that Harry, but what if they want to check my loyalty or something. They could do occlumency and see right through the act and find out that I am **not** in fact Flora Durmwood but Hermione Granger; the girl who helped defeat the great dark lord. Somehow Harry I get the feeling that they're not going to appreciate that. And what about if they find out about the chip?'_

'_Oh, don't worry about that. Dad said that its impossible to trace and besides, Hermione. Don't think too much about it or you'll start hyperventilating. Now I don't think that the people you are going to meet with are going to be too happy about that.'_

'_Yeah Hermione, don't worry; we're nearby so if something happens we'll be right there.'_

'_I feel wonderful already.' She said sarcastically._

'_Be brave Hermione.'_

On that note ended their conversation. "Be brave" he said. Well I'll be pretty damn brave then. She might have scoffed at the advice but it was just the encouragement she needed.

She let her confidence flood her every fibre and mustering her courage, pushed the door open and walked in.

All eyes turned towards her as she proceeded through the room, the conversations stopped and Hermione saw people who had their drinks halfway upto their mouth.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Malfoy stand up and heard him clear his throat.

'This, my friends is' while extending his arm towards her, 'Flora Durmwood. She is my guest for today,' there were a few catcalls at this comment, ignoring them he carried on, 'treat her fair.'

Hermione's cheeks turned rather pink at all the attention that was centred at her. All of the occupants were staring at her in a very disturbing manner. It was almost as if they were planning on ways to kill her, All the women were muttering while glowering at her, as if all they wanted to do was rip her limb from limb.

On the other side of the room she saw the men give her appraising glances and saw someone pat Malfoy's back. The male reaction was what scared her the most; she wrapped her coat tighter around herself to reveal minimum skin.

Perhaps it wasn't the best of things to do at the time because her tightening her coat around herself made her figure more prominent.

She started panicking and gazed around for seat so she could stop being the center of attention.

She saw a woman nearby who was looking her up and down and then nodding as if she approved of her or something. Hermione thought of this as an invitation and sat down beside her. To her immense relief she said nothing to belittle her.

The woman lost no time in striking up a conversation with her. ' Hello, my name is Pansy Parkinson.'

Hermione stopped dead as she heard the name. What the hell she thought. Wasn't she supposed to be dead?

She saw Pansy look at her awkwardly and realized that her silence would be looked upon as rude, so she quickly held out her hand and said, 'Well, as you probably heard I'm Flora Durmwood.'

'So how exactly did you meet Draco?'

'I just happened to bump into him at a grocery store.'

'A _grocery_ store?' Pansy raised an eyebrow, 'You met him at a _grocery_ store?'

'Is it so hard to believe? Draco actually goes out and buys his food.'

'Now, that's _really_ odd. I would expect him to leave that work to the house elves. Strange really…' she drifted off.

'Hmm, anyway Pansy what do you do?'

'Oh nothing much, I just stay at home and basically am a house wife. I usually help out in my husband's various affairs.'

'That's nice. Who is your husband?'

'You probably don't know him.'

'Please, indulge me.'

'His name's Avery Nott.'

With this Hermione's chest constricted. Avery Nott was a wanted death eater who had thus far avoided capture, and here infront of Hermione was his wife. Now would be the ideal time to arrest her and take her to the headquarters, but she stopped the path her thoughts were taking as she heard Malfoy's booming laugh.

"**Malfoy, he's my target; I need to get to him first, later I can get the rest."**

Pretending to look around she asked, 'Is he here?'

'Why yes, he is. Do you know him?'

"**Oh wow! Malfoy is in a group of friends, one of which is a death eater. I just need her to keep talking a little bit more to find out where his disposition lies."**

'Yes actually. I mean I don't know him personally but a person I know was friends with him.'

'Really,' with mock interest, 'and who would be that?'

The wheels in Hermione's head set in motion as she tried to spin a believable tale.

'His name was Blaise Zabini.'

It was at that unfortunate moment that the room had settled into a silence so that her whispered words sounded deafening. All heads swivelled round to look at her. Hermione wasn't completely surprised by the reaction, in fact she was expecting it. How could a ditzy blonde as herself know the notorious Blaise Zabini?

Blaise was after all a known Death eater, one of many who was in the clutches of the Order, but no one besides the top members knew about him. And luckily no one else knew about his capture, and the Order had made sure of that. Blaise had been force-fed veruterism and they found out that he had told no one of his plans and as he was constantly moving, not one of his acquaintances thought his disappearance as odd.

Malfoy suddenly stood up and stalked towards her. Hermione prepared herself for the onslaught of questions, but it didn't matter if she had prepared till the end of time because all Malfoy did was take her arm and ask her to leave with him.

Pansy stood up at this and bade her farewell. To Hermione's surprise all of the women in the room rose with Pansy and said goodbye in a combined voice. This made her realise that Pansy was a leader of sorts and others would follow her lead.

"**Interesting." **She stored this information in her head as she straightened herself and walked arm in arm with Malfoy till the door. As she walked by she heard Pansy say, 'Bring her back here again Draco.'

When they were out of the room Draco whipped around and snapped, 'We are about to leave these grounds and we have to be very quiet. It would not do if we were heard. Do not talk until I say so.'

Hermione nodded in acquiescence and together they tackled the oppressive air of decay and darkness. They made their way out of the chamber and up the stairs, out of the graveyard and down the streets of France.

They reached a hotel which had a sign held up saying "rooms vacant", seeing this Malfoy went up to the front desk and booked a room under the name Durmwood. Hermione started to argue, but was silenced by the glare that was sent her way via Malfoy.

He took her arm, slightly tighter than necessary and practically hauled her to the room. Here, he flung her unceremoniously on the bed and turned around to lock the door behind him.

He looked so pale in the dim light and his facial expression chilled her to the bones.

Turning toward her he asked her a seemingly simple and plausible question.

'Who the hell are you?'

'How dare you manhandle me like that!' she screeched.

'Don't dodge the ques…'

'I'm talking! Its rude to interrupt, I thought your parents would have taught you that when you were younger.'

A hot rage swelled in Draco's chest. Who did she think she was talking back to him in such a condescending manner.

'I have kept my peace long enough. It is time for you to listen, I didn't protest when you took me from the meeting, nor when you pushed me into this… filthy hotel, nor when you dragged me into this room. However I will not stand for this kind of treatment any longer. I don't care how elite you think you are but you have greatly misjudged me if you think I was going to be a docile rat! Further more I…'

Hermione's rant was quickly broken off by Malfoy roughly pushing himself towards her and crashing his lips against hers. After a second or so, he pulled back and said, 'Shut up! You will not…'

He was cut off when Hermione pushed him away from her with all the might she possessed.

Eyes flashing, she hissed, 'Get out of my sight.' Emphasising each and every word.

He glared at her and a battle of the wills was fought. In the end Malfoy retreated and stalked off into the grimy corridors of the hotel.

His last words echoed in Hermione's head. 'This is not the end my dear Flora. It is just the beginning.'

Shaking with fury she tried to collect herself, but failed terribly. She had never felt such rage and it took a huge amount of self control to not follow the bastard and lock him up.

If he wanted a war, he would get a war. 'And we'll see who emerges as the victor.'

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**A.N- So what did you think guys? Was it interesting? I think it was if I do say so myself.**

**I just want to apologize because there wasn't that much humour in this chapter. This fic wont be one of those random fics, which are hysterical laughter type funny (which I really appreciate) but it will have some humour in it. I hope that's okay with you guys.**

**Well like I said before I'm going to need reviews, and much more than the ones I got in the last chapter. I have a lot of ideas for this story but if I don't get feedback I'm sorry to say that I might not continue it. I hope you guys understand. Hopefully the next time I'll write the next chapter, would be with more than at least ten reviews under my belt.**

**So review my lovely people, and if you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask.**

**Till next time (hopefully) see ya!**


	4. Scones and Bookshops

**A.N- Hello again my people. Thankyou so much for giving me my 10 reviews. **

**The very moment I got the tenth one I wrote this chapter out. Thankyou soo much to Queen of serpents, Sapphire Moondust, Ryuichis-Ragdolls, Loca4Anime and HermioneGrangerRox. You guys Rock!**

**On with the fic:**

**Hermione Blonde- Chapter 4 **

**Scones and Bookshops **

**By Princess Beeduru**

Last time: He glared at her and a battle of the wills was fought. In the end Malfoy retreated and stalked off into the grimy corridors of the hotel.

His last words echoed in Hermione's head. 'This is not the end my dear Flora. It is just the beginning.'

Shaking with fury she tried to collect herself, but failed terribly. She had never felt such rage and it took a huge amount of self control to not follow the bastard and lock him up.

If he wanted a war, he would get a war. 'And we'll see who emerges as the victor.'

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**Scones and Bookshops**

'Harry, what do you think? Have you tried contacting the Order?'

'I have been trying but I cant seem to get a hold of them. I have tried every means possible to get in touch, but for some inexplicable reason … I just…cant.'

'What do you mean you _cant? _Unless all of the Order conveniently decided to go out and have a spot of tea at the exact time you are trying to contact them I hardly accept the fact that you cant get in touch with them. Hmm Harry?'

'I know it sounds weird Hermione, but its like there's no signal. I've even tried getting a hold of some of our members in France, but there's no response. I've _even_ tried to contact _Fleur's_ family, but none of them are answering. Its like they've suddenly disappeared.'

It took a few minutes for the sentence to sink in and when it finally did it caused a collective shudder as the memories of the War began to resurface, the times when no one was safe in their own houses, the times when people would disappear without a single trace, the times when innocent people would be killed because of an insane dark lord who thirsted for power.

But those times had passed and _hopefully_ would never come back to haunt the world again.

'Is that possible?' Hermione whispered fearfully.

The dread still hadn't left all the people who were involved in the war, their innocence had been unwillingly robbed and even two years after the war, anything which was out of the ordinary would be treated very carefully as such a thing could be the unravelling of the society.

'It's not Hermione.' Harry said firmly. 'It's not' he repeated more to himself than anyone else.

Regaining his composure, 'The logical reason would be that somehow we're cut off from the world. But the thing is _how_ is that possible? We'll need to really look over this matter.' He continued.

'Well we need to hurry up. I found some things out at the meeting yesterday and wanted to check some stuff out with the Order.'

'It's to do with Pansy Parkinson, isn't it?' Hermione and Harry swivelled round to see their friend join them with three coffee mugs in hand.

'Yeah, who told us that she was killed? It was all over the papers that Parkinson had died. Do you remember Luna was telling us of how public this news was made thanks to the Malfoys. It was as if they wanted everyone to know that she had died…' Hermione drifted off as the realization hit her.

'What if she never died?'

Harry snorted. 'Well obviously.'

Noticing her stupid statement she giggled. 'What I mean to say is that she is not infact dead but people in England think that she's dead. And I'm certain Malfoy was in England at that time so he would have known about her so called "death", yet here he is, in her company a few years later. What if the Malfoys hid her away or something?'

'What I don't get is why we're waiting for him to prove he's an evil dick head. We already know he his, so why don't we just take him!'

'Ron, you know that isn't the way it works but this information sure damages any backup story Malfoy had planned.'

'So what should we do about Nott? He was at that meeting too wasn't he.' Said Harry

'We can't just take him because then everyone would realise that they're under surveillance and run away.' She said reprovingly.

'But he's a death eater Mione. We have to take him.'

'And how exactly are you going to get up to him, we only knew about his whereabouts for a brief five minutes or so and that was only because I was with Malfoy. He's hardly going to come waltzing up the streets of Marseilles.'

'Become one of them Hermione.' Came the tentative voice of Ron.

'That's exactly what…. What!' she shrieked.

'Yes Hermione. Become one of them. This isn't just about getting Malfoy it's also about getting other dark associates. If you mould yourself into one of them you can get access without even having Malfoy present. It would make everything so much easier.''

'Easier? EASIER? What exactly is the definition of easy in your dictionary! Because in mine it most certainly does not mean that I have to completely change myself, and try to act exactly like the people who I despise, and actually _want_ to get accepted by…them.' Déjà vu struck her during her outburst.

Ron was expecting this and so prepared himself. 'Hermione, you're the only one who can do this. You're the most smartest witch and you know exactly how to handle yourself. You're brave and courageous and have the strength to conduct this mission properly. Whereas silly old Harry and I will botch it up.' He added the puppy dog eyes encouraging Harry to do so as well.

'Do you think buttering me up will actually work Ronald.' She scolded, yet her expression had softened just a little bit.

She determinedly stared out of the window to avoid their endearing gaze but after five minutes, looking out the window proved to be an _immensely_ boring pass time and she had no choice but to look at the two boys on the floor with their hands out beseechingly.

She sighed in annoyance before halfheartedly pulling them up and nodding.

The room burst with cheers as Harry and Ron pranced around the room looking like complete and utter idiots, reminding her of the good old Hogwarts days.

After having lunch and calming themselves down, Harry and Ron went out and Hermione resumed brooding about her impending doom…ahem project.

How on earth was she going to become a full fledged death eater wannabe? It was impossible, but unfortunately for Hermione impossible was not in her personality.

Why did she have to have that streak of stubbornness and thirst to prove herself, which would one day cause her to fall hard, very hard!

She realized she needed to toughen herself up, I mean squealing at a cutesy little squirrel is hardly what death eaters are known for. Honestly she was going to have to change herself so much, it would be incredibly hard, but was she up for the challenge? It would be very rewarding, Obviously catching a bunch of death eaters and ridding the society of such monstrosities isn't exactly an average feat. And if anyone could do it, it was Hermione.

She looked at the clock and gasped in shock. It was nearly three o clock! She hadn't made any advancements what so ever and here she was motivating herself for the past _three_ hours or so.

She hurriedly got up and took out her wand. She figured the best thing to do was to see where the bane of her mission was at this moment.

Yesterday Draco Malfoy hadn't even noticed her put the tracing charm on him, either he was just playing or Hermione was much better than him. Definitely the latter, she thought with a smirk.

She put her wand over a map and waited for her 'Scoprirus' to take effect, a few seconds later a blue light appeared down Pez Street. 'So there you are.' Hermione whispered.

She hurriedly wrote a note to Harry and Ron, grabbed her coat and scarf, walked out the door and hailed a cab to get to her destination. She had been passing by all sorts of sceneries, and witnessed the change from the bright sunny afternoon to a dreary dismal excuse for a street.

Paying the driver she got out and scoured around for _him_. The street she had entered was really creepy, it oddly reminded her of Knockturn Alley. There were weird people milling about, some shopping while others were just hanging around, making Hermione feel even more uneasy.

Basically the place just reeked of dark magic. She was regretting not bringing Harry or Ron with her, but oh well no use crying over spilt milk.

She was walking around trying to be inconspicuous while looking for Malfoy. Suddenly… she saw a glint of golden hair twinkling in what seemed to be a bookshop.

"And what pray tell would a Malfoy be doing in a bookshop in the dodgiest of places." She muttered to herself.

She pulled her scarf over her head and pulled her coat closer to herself, and stealthily entered the shop. The first thing she immediately noticed was the overpowering smell of something… something so disgusting, it was hard to compare. The nearest thing would be Ron's socks after Quidditch practise! Trust me, no one wanted to even be in the same room as him while he would take his muddy shoes off.

She stalked over to the nearest bookshelf to find out what type of books would be sold here. The first thing she saw was " Most Potente Potions". As she looked around she saw that Hogwarts library's restricted section books were nearly all here along with that, were hundreds more, all pertaining to the Dark Arts.

She let out an involuntary shudder as she saw some of the titles, "Gruesome ways of the art of Decapitation." And "Necromancy for the soulless of souls". As she shifted down the row of books she came across a copper stained book, no questions as to what that could possibly be. She hurried on not wanting to linger on the grisliest of sights.

She ducked behind a bookshelf and peeked out through a gap in the books at Malfoy. He was standing opposite her with a venomous green book in hand. He looked very interested in it and didn't seem to be at all disturbed by the bustling around him.

That's when it hit Hermione how many people were in here. For an evil second hand bookshop on a sunny day in France it was quite busy, where on earth did all these people come from and why the hell would people actually be interested in this sort of rubbish. What was to be gained by reading any of this crap!

Right now her question wasn't to be answered as a sudden movement caught her eye. Draco had abruptly turned directly towards her, making Hermione draw back almost as quickly. Hermione thanked the Lord that there was a huge bookshelf between Malfoy and her. It was almost as if he could see her.

To her relief she saw that he had turned back and was looking thoroughly engrossed in his book, a bit strange for a person who not long ago looked like a predator on a hunt.

She felt goose-bumps creeping up on her neck and watched warily.

She had been standing there for nearly half an hour, her back was in pain, her feet in more pain but through it all she had atleast found out two things about Draco Malfoy.

Number one: he wasn't actually reading his book.

Number two: he was waiting for someone.

Now how could Hermione find this out? Because she saw that Malfoy kept glancing at the door, as if someone special were about to come in. Either he was waiting for someone to come in or was waiting for someone to go out.

Suddenly Draco disappeared out of her line of vision. What the hell?

She looked around wildly, panicking but luckily she saw that he had actually gone to the back of the shop. As the door banged shut, Hermione decided to do something daring. She walked up to where Malfoy had been standing and picked up the book that he had so lovingly discarded. She fingered the frayed edge of the book, evidently it had been read a lot.

She turned the cover with trepidation running through her veins. Funny really since the book didn't look too threatening and no one was in the room. It took her a while for the meaning of this to set in, her eyes widened. But perhaps the realization hit her a bit too late.

No one was in the room, it had been full three seconds ago! She dropped the book and whirled around to the door.

She had barely moved an inch when a pale hand clamped down upon her shoulder.

She was about to scream when the owner of the hand bent down to her ear level and whispered satanically 'Shhhh'

Her heart was beating at such a tremendous rate she thought it would burst with sheer pressure. Slowly the person behind her came into view, why was she not surprised that it had turned out to be Malfoy.

She was clutching her chest in shock, a symptom common to those who get the shit scared out of them.

'Well well well, what do we have here, hmm? Flora I didn't expect to see you here so soon.'

'Likewise Draco.' After getting her breath back.

The feeling between them was very bitter, obviously since they didn't exactly part on the best of terms.

'So what would a girl like you be doing in a place like this?' he asked while raising an sceptic eyebrow.

'Oh I randomly decided to drop by.' Sarcasm oozing with every word.

'I'm not playing games.'

'Neither am I.' Her voice equally firm.

'It would seem like it though wouldn't it. Now drop the act!' his voice suddenly became forceful.

'What act?'

'I told you I'm not in the mood for playing games. Why are you here, in this?' gesturing round the store, which had started becoming hazy in Hermione's eyes.

'I can go into a bookstore whenever I feel like it and I certainly don't answer to you.'

'Well I'll make you answer to me.' He hissed.

'Try.' She mouthed. This irked Draco to no end. Why was this pathetic excuse for a girl not even fazed by his mighty presence while those stronger had fallen to their feet.

'Watch it Flora, I'm not someone to mess around with. Now tell me why you are here.'

'First tell me where did all the people go. They can't have just disappeared.'

'Truly a blonde at heart.' **( A.N- No offense to blondes. Am one myself) **'You can't figure it out?'

This struck Hermione really hard, he was snubbing her intelligence. How dare he!

'It was all an illusion' he announced proudly.

It slowly dawned upon Hermione. **"Ahhh, it made sense now. Illusion, ofcourse, the people here weren't actually here. They were made up. But why?"**

'Why did you need an illusion anyway? What were you trying to pull?'

'Not that it's any of your business, but I was waiting for someone.'

'And what? You wanted an illusion to make the time go by or something.'

Draco narrowed his eyes at her.

'What does it matter? Now you need to tell me what you were doing here.'

'This is a book shop, is it not? I wanted to buy a book and so I came here.' She explained as if it was the simplest thing in the world.

'This shop is full of the dark arts.' He stated.

'Your point being…' she said saucily.

Time seemed to go by very slowly as she waited for is reply.

' I see.' Draco nodded his head.

He gave her an up and down to see if she was for real. That _she_ would actually go in a shop willingly and instead of buying make up, was looking for a Dark book.

'Why is it so hard for you to believe. I don't need to prove myself. I'm looking for a dear,' she inwardly cringed, 'friend of mine. I thought you of all people could help me since Blaise kept talking about you. I come here and _this_ is what I get. A fine friend you are.'

'Who told you that I was his friend?' there was a hint of anxiousness in his voice.

'Tsk, are you deaf or something! I told you I was… am very close to Blaise.' She quickly corrected her mistake.

'How close?'

'Closer than you can even imagine.'

'That doesn't answer anything.'

'Maybe being his fiancé will.' A deafening silence followed.

Draco stood there gobsmacked, and he wasn't the only one surprised. Back at the hotel, Harry and Ron had stood up while nearly choking on their scones. Furthermore Hermione was the most astonished by this revelation. It had just popped out of her mouth with out her even thinking about it.

Her mind started working at a million miles per hour, she needed to adjust her plan due to the unforeseen outburst, and time was running out.

Draco was watching her every move. She put on a confident face and gave him a questioning glance.

'Blaise never told me he was engaged.'

'He didn't want anyone to know. We got engaged right before he disappeared. She looked at the floor while saying this, pretending to look absolutely devastated. After waiting for a timed three seconds she rose her head and whispered emotionally, 'I want him back, with your help or without it'

Draco wasn't ready for the burst of emotion and left the tight grip he had on his shoulders. Hermione felt the release and turned around, feeling that Malfoy wouldn't follow her she walked out the shop.

She made sure to walk out very slowly to give Malfoy ample time to see her expression change from grief to a sorrowful confidence. She knew it would be a long chance that he would actually _feel_ the emotions she was deliberately radiating but wanted to exploit every possibility that she got into manipulating him.

As she walked by, two steely eyes followed her, never leaving her until she turned round the corner.

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**A.N- I hope you liked it. I know nothing that much happened but its needed for the development of the story. Once again tell me if you liked it or if you didn't agree with something. I'm setting 15 reviews as the limit now. Don't worry if more people review, I'm not complaining. . If there are any grammatical mistakes do tell me, I tend to get a bit short sighted regarding the technical aspects of a fic.**

**Review my beautiful people. Muah!**


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